As part of our commitment to promoting the refrigeration industry as a career path for students, we took our refrigeration cycle equipment to the Big Bang Fair at Sutton Grammar School, Surrey, on 4 July 2016. The bikes were extremely well received and the event clearly generated awareness of refrigeration as a career, with many students and teachers keen to learn more.

The event was supported by the Institute of Refrigeration President’s fund and aimed to promote the cooling industry and routes into it. Alongside the bikes, the IOR promoted its Careers in Cooling initiative, banners from World Skills promoted apprenticeships and technical routes into refrigeration and the Engineering Development Trust’s Year in Industry scheme offered guidance for those considering higher education.

Initiatives like this are essential to inform and inspire students, providing a roadmap into our industry. It is vital that, as an industry, all companies engage with the engineers of tomorrow by reaching out to them.

There are a number of ways in which companies and organisations can get involved, including:

Employ a gap year student for a Year in Industry.

Take on an apprentice.

Offer summer placements to undergraduate students.

Become a STEM ambassador and engage with schools.

Join schemes run by the Engineering Development Trust to provide teams of students with real life engineering problems through the Engineering Education Scheme or Go4SET

Commenting on the initiative, ECH Engineering’s Managing Director, Dr Ed Hammond, stated:“I was introduced to the world of the refrigeration during my Year in Industry placement and it was that experience that has forged my commitment to promote the industry to young engineers. In addition to the refrigeration cycle initiative, we offer undergraduate summer placements and Year in Industry opportunities at ECH Engineering.”

For further information on career opportunities and training initiatives, in the refrigeration industry, please visit the USEFUL LINKS section on our website home page.